15kg Uranium Seized In Turkey-SMUGGLING for Islam!!(my title)

WNN | 09-28-02 | Reuters-ICK!

[GRRRRR]

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish paramilitary police have seized more than 15 kg (33 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium.

Two men were detained and accused of smuggling the material, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.

Officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 250 km (155 miles) from the Iraqi border, acted on a tip-off.

They stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.

The incident happens at a time of mounting speculation the United States could launch a military attack on neighbouring Iraq for its alleged programme of weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. President George Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Officials at Ankara's Atomic Energy Institute would not confirm they had been notified about the material, which Anatolia had reported.

"Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighbouring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying by Anatolian.

Police officials in Sanliurfa and Ankara declined to comment on the case.

Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country and has a value of about $5 million, Anatolian said.

It was not immediately clear when the operation was carried out. Anatolian only gave the first names of the suspects, which appeared to be Turkish.

Smugglers use Turkey's porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.

Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg (2.2 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation.

The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers.

[GRRRRR]

This highway is a direct line to IRAK. I waited and waited and waited for FOX to get this story up on either the AIR or the NET...I hate giving any credit to the World News Network...(CNN)...this finding of potentially fissile materials in the hands of such people is more "poof" for little Tommy Daschole and the rest of the stinking Peace First Pacifists here and abroad.

These filthy marchers in DC, just want to sit back, they want to let the Commie Chinese poke and prode Saddam, give him money and the next thing you know, they are invading Saudi Arabia and the Commie Chinese are lobbing missiles into the ROC.

If you ever wonder what it might be like in a world dominated by the Islamic Terrorists and Commies, just go get Jeff Head's books...Dragon's Fury Vols 1 and 2. They are too real and scary.

GRRRRRollin'

[The Raven]

Weapons grade, mind you !!!

How much do they already have?

[PhilDragoo]

Stuff this cannister up Dashole.

Tommy Boy, you couldn't see this uranium because your head was in Uranus.

Let's do Iraq real soon, give Saddam an overdose of B-2.

When W has Jiang to his Crawford ranch on the 28th, he can say,

Don't mess with us, amigo, and by us I include Taiwan, comprende? Now, how about another beer?

[GRRRRR]

And another thing...what is up with A. Putin? Supposedly, Putin and Bush are good buddies, but Anatolye has his nose right up Hussein's butt...I am not likin' this...

[InvisibleChurch]

ya gotta wonder whether irak has bombs waiting for US troops...hussein would think nothing about nuking other irakis, and the left here would say it was a US nuke.... the daschle-ites would jump all over W for it

[templar]

Does anyone know exactly what constitutes weapons grade uranium as opposed to non weapons grade?

[Quix]

THATS A KEY PT--HOW MUCH do they already have.

DASHALFHOLE: "AWWWW Sadammmmy pooh hasn't been buying any nasty stuff before this--he told me so in our usual nighty-night call."

[BenLurkin]

YIKES! Rueters - Not exactly a fly by night outfit: meaning this story probably has some veracity.

Those who would wait for the U.N. do not have our nation's interest in their intentions.

[goodnesswins]

I just saw FOX reporting this also.....

[Quix]

They don't have sanity about their own home, their neighborhood, their city, state, country NOR the world.

They are blind and/or idiots.

[AdA$tra]

How much do they already have?.......

....Or was this one of ten such cars on
that road today?

[AdA$tra]

Not exactly a fly by night outfit: meaning this story probably has some veracity.

Heck, Drudge has pictures.

[BluH2o]

I sent a copy of an earlier post, on this breaking news, to a few fence sitting pacifists I know ...
I told them not to expect to see anything this evening on national news ... this type of news is not what the pacifist liberal news networks want to hear ... makes their anti-Bush stance, on possible war with Iraq, hopeless.

[Right Wing Professor]

Weapons-grade is enriched in U-235, a very expensive and technically demanding process. This stuff came from one of the existing nuclear powers, probably the former Soviet Union.

At the same time, there's no way they could know it's weapons grade without a mass spectrum.

[snopercod]

weapons-grade uranium

Does that mean U-235? Of what concentration? (I suppose that is too difficult a question for our American media.)

[another cricket]

And another thing...what is up with A. Putin?

He want's his 8 billion. And he doesn't want the US to control Iraq's oil. He just got his oil business up and running and now his best customer may get a new supplier.

a.cricket

[snopercod]

The picture on Drudge says "Made in Germany". Did you catch that?

[Right Wing Professor]

If this story is fully accurate, it's by far the most frightening piece of hard news I've seen in the last five years. 15 kg of ²³⁵U enriched uranium is a super-critical mass. Simply collecting it together in one lump gets you a very messy little nuclear fizzle, and making a low-yield bomb out of it is something an intelligent physics or engineering undergrad., with a decent machine shop, could do.

There have been lots of vague stories about fissile material for sale on the black market, and I suspect most of them are bogus, but this looks like it's more substantial.

[SSN558]

It is the percentage of the fisionable isotope U235. Fuel rods for Nuclear power use Uranium enriched to about 5-6% max. Weapons grade is 98% pure U235 or better. The balance is U238 a non fisionable isotope.

[SSN558]

"At the same time, there's no way they could know it's weapons grade without a mass spectrum."

The percentage of decays occuring in a sample of weapons grade U235 would be much higher, it can be measured and calculated.